On Monday, Lebanon’s Prime Minister Hassan Diab announced his resignation in a brief televised address following a massive explosion that rocked Beirut earlier last week, leaving over 6,000 injured and 160 dead.
In the speech, Diab said “I have discovered that corruption is bigger than the state and that the state is paralyzed by this [ruling] clique and cannot confront it or get rid of it.”
It is no surprise that Diab has resigned with swelling public anger towards authorities for improperly storing 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate in a port warehouse since 2014.
On multiple occasions, port authorities wrote to the local government requesting that the materials be moved to a secure location or exported. Predictably, the requests were ignored by Lebanese authorities, leading to last week’s catastrophic blast.
The consequences of the blast have been far reaching as the entire Lebanese political apparatus begins to unravel. In addition to Diab’s resignation, three other Cabinet ministers had already resigned ahead of the announcement.
